'Pumpkin' was a British operation by Major General D. T. Cowan’s Indian 17^th Light Division to the south of Tiddim in the central part of Japanese-occupied Burma (December 1943).

The object was to open the road to Fort White and thence to Kalewa on the Chindwin river for the advance of Lieutenant General G. A. P. Scoones’s Indian IV Corps, the latter itself designed as a spoiling operation against the Japanese offensive expected in the spring of 1944.

Comprising only two brigades, namely Brigadier R. T. Cameron’s Indian 48^th Brigade and Brigadier A. E. Cumming’s Indian 63^rd Brigade, the 17^th Light Division was operating in the Tiddim sector of the Burma front’s central sector was unable to make significant progress against Lieutenant General Genzo Yanagida’s 33^rd Division, which was increasing its strength and positions in anticipation of its part in the advance of Lieutenant General Renya Mutaguchi’s 15^th Army in the 'U' (ii) operation against Imphal and Kohima.